Harper's Little Spitfire (Harper's Series) (25 page)

Flying through the creek bed, he noticed several heads of cattle right in front of him. Pulling the radio out, he pushed the button and spoke.

“I have ten cattle in view on the east side of Water Lily Creek.”

“Roger that. Heading there now from the back,” Logan replied.

Caleb edged his way closer to the cattle, not wanting to frighten them. A loud crack of thunder erupted, causing the cattle to stand straighter and look around. He saw Logan and Zeb gallop up behind the small herd. Sage slid off the back of Zeb’s horse and cracked the whip, yelling at them to move.

The cattle pushed together as they rounded them, moving them away from the gumtree they stood under and towards the open paddock. More cattle rested further up the creek bed. Whistling out to Logan, he pointed upstream and both took off towards that way.

Zeb stayed with Sage as they moved the cattle into the open and waited for them to bring the others back. Caleb on one side with Logan on the other moved them towards the rest.

Once together, Caleb did a quick head count. “We only have a forty-seven head count. The rest shouldn’t be that far away,” he shouted over the wind.

Sage stood near Zeb’s horse as she lifted her hand to be pulled up. Once she was up, they pushed the cattle towards the cabin, hoping to find the rest on the way.

An hour from arriving at the cabin, the rain pelted down. The wind gusts ripped through the bare paddock and the horses started to act out in reaction to the storm. Cursing, Caleb spun around in the quad and noticed the rest of the cattle heading their way from the Anderson’s back line.

“Zeb, take Sage to the cabin and put the cattle in the lockdown area. Logan and I will grab the rest of the cattle coming this way.”

Zeb sprinted off towards the cattle, pushing them further. There wasn’t much to do as they were heading that way.

Logan and Caleb turned around and took off. The rain was really coming down; the sky had turned green. The raindrops, cold on his skin, weren’t helped by the fierce wind ripping through his body.

Both Logan and Caleb’s  clothing was saturated, sticking to their skin as they galloped up to the holding yard. Sage held the gate open as she cracked the whip at the side, herding the cattle into the yard.

As soon as they were all inside the yard, she closed the gate and bolted for the shelter area.

Jumping off the quad, Caleb raced quickly over to help Logan. Lightnin’ hated being out in any kind of storm. He wouldn’t hold still as Logan held onto the reins, while Caleb removed his saddle and blanket.

Lightnin’ veered up on his hind legs, and both Logan and Caleb stood back as the reins left his hands. Sage stepped forward, waving her hands around, getting his attention as she spoke to him.

“Sage, get back, now,” Caleb ordered. His heart stopped as she moved towards the horse. He couldn’t move as she stepped closer and closer into unknown danger. Horses were unpredictable. Sage never once took her eyes from him, raising her hands slowly, not wanting to spook him more.

She ignored him and continued to calm Lightnin’ down. A bolt of lightning cracked in the yard, jolting Lightnin’ out of his state. Sage grabbed his reins, pulled him quickly into the stall and locked it.

All four of them stood panting, completely drenched from the rain. Caleb glanced between them and frowned when his eyes landed on Sage.

She was shivering: blue lips and covered in mud. Stomping over to her, her shirt was completely see-through, and her hair was a mess. She swayed lightly as a huge gush of wind ripped through the shelter area. He wrapped his arms around her, sharing his body heat with her.

Turning his head towards his brothers, he spoke with urgency. “We need to make a run for it to the cabin.” He looked down and lifted Sage’s chin so her eyes were on his. “I’m going to pick you up. I need you to wrap yourself around me as tightly as you can. Then we are going to run for the cabin, got me?”

“Yes,” she whispered on a shiver.

He lifted her up, wrapped her legs around his waist and her arms around his neck, pulling herself into him as much as she could. Stepping towards the doorway, he nodded towards his brothers. “On the count of three.”

“One.”

“Two.” His grip tightened on Sage’s body wrapped around him.

“Three!” he yelled.

They all took off towards the cabin. The rain was coming down harder than it was before. He could barely make out where the cabin was in front of him. He ran faster towards where he hoped to find it. Within seconds, the cabin came into view and all of them ran up the front porch stairs and breathed easily again.

Sage was still gripped around him. Rubbing his hand up and down her back, he pushed open the door and stepped inside. Logan stood outside still, but Zeb followed. Placing her down on her feet, Caleb turned away and spoke to Zeb, “She needs to get in the shower to warm up. She’s shivering all over and her lips are blue. Logan and I are going to check everything around the cabin.”

“Caleb,” Sage whispered to him.

He spun around and faced her. Tears welled in her eyes as she stared at him.

Walking up to her, he lifted his hand and wiped the water from under her eyes. “Just going to check out the cabin, spitfire. We’ll be back in no time.” Once finished, his lips covered hers. There was nothing sweet about the kiss; she gripped his wet shirt in her fists as his tongue invaded her mouth. Moaning, he pulled away from her, wanting nothing more than to take her to bed and warm her up the best way he knew.

But he had something to do first. Stepping back, he stroked her cheek tenderly one last time. “Go inside and have a shower, baby. We’ll be back once you’re out.”

~~*~~*~~

S
age stood watching both of them disappear outside. Zeb wrapped his arm around her waist and pulled her further into the cabin, closing the door behind them, and walked towards the bathroom. She was cold everywhere. Her clothing stuck to her body, as did leaves, dirt and God only knew what was stuck in her hair and on her skin. Her body was covered in goose bumps from the wind ripping through her. Shivering as they entered the bathroom, Zeb turned the water on and then faced her.

His hands gripped the side of her shirt. “Lift,” he instructed softly.

Lifting her arms above her head, he removed the shirt and pulled her bra off afterwards. He knelt down, slid her shorts and panties down her legs and walked her towards the shower.

She turned around before she got inside of it. “Can you please hop in with me, Zeb?”

Nodding, she stepped under the water and watched as Zeb removed his clothes and slid behind her under the water. His arms wrapped around her, pulling her into his body. The warm water cascaded over the both of them, slowly warming their bodies back up. Zeb’s hands rubbed circles over her belly, her head resting on his shoulder.

“Spitfire, I know this isn’t the right time to ask, but what happened the night before?”

Her body went ridged in his hold. Her breath stilled in her lungs with his question. His hand still moved over her belly, relaxing her a little at what she needed to voice.

Resting her head against the wall, she sighed, “I don’t know if I can tell you, Zeb. I know how you will react to what I need to say.”

“We all know something happened, Sage. We just don’t know what,” he whispered into her ear.

“If I tell you, promise you won’t do anything about it.”

He didn’t answer. She tried to spin in his grip, but he didn’t allow it.

“I promise.”

There was no easy way to say it, or even sugar coat it either, so she just came out and said what she needed to.

“That night, I found Mac in my room. I wasn’t expecting him to be there since he was at your parents’ house with Sarah. Anyways, he picked me up, lay me down on my bed, and stripped all my clothing off. I couldn’t get a word out at all. Then he went down on me and gave me an amazing orgasm. I seriously wasn’t expecting it.”

She took a breath, a little embarrassed as well as a little hot at the memory; she felt Zeb’s hands shift and grip her hips, holding her in front of him.

“Mac removed his clothes and covered my body with his. I’ve wanted him from the first moment I saw him, Zeb. There’s something about him that draws me to him. I can’t explain it.” Zeb’s hands fell from her hips. She spun around and faced him; the look that covered his face was pain; her heart clenched inside of her chest at seeing him like that. She lifted her hand and glided her fingers over his lips.

“He said he couldn’t go slow and I didn’t want that either, but I honestly thought he knew and would at least try going slowly.” A tear leaked from the corner of her eye as she continued, “I had no warning, and he pushed forward hard. Pain ripped through me. I never thought it would feel like that...the first time. He stopped, then pulled out then suddenly slammed forward, harder than the last. All I felt was pain, Zeb. I tried really hard to enjoy it, but he kept moving inside of me, not giving me time to adjust to him or what he was doing.”

Now tears streamed down her face as the words poured out of her. Zeb stared past her, his face unreadable. “I told him he needed to slow down, but he didn’t listen until I said he was hurting me. He stopped after that, for a short time anyway. He said he couldn’t, that the way I was tightening around him, milking him, was too much for him to stop, so he kept moving. The pain was bad. I tried everything to take my mind off it. The only way I knew how was to start playing with myself as he fucked me. I obviously distracted him enough to slow down and watch, then he flipped me over and took me from behind. By then, I begged him to fuck me. I screamed it at him, wanting him to do what he wanted.”

She let go of Zeb and slid down the wall, wrapping her arms around her knees and continued to talk. “He smacked my ass. I never thought I’d ever be turned on by something like that. I told him I wanted more, and he gave it to me. Once we were finished, he sat at the end of the bed not looking at me. I shifted closer to him, and as soon as I wrapped my arms around him, he pushed me away and stood.”

She couldn’t look at Zeb. If anyone told her what she was telling him, she’d be pissed as hell. She continued, “He got up, just like that, and began to dress. He was going to leave me, without thought or care, so I stopped him at the door. I shouldn’t have done it. I should have let him leave, but stupid old me wanted to know what was wrong with him...or me.”

Taking a breath, her heart ached as she spoke the next words. “All he needed was a good hard fuck and I supplied that to him, but apparently, I was crap since he can fuck Sarah anyway he wants to. He told me that I suck cock like a pro, but I’m too frigid for him. He needs someone with more experience.”

She glanced up at Zeb, his fists clenched beside him, his breathing coming in very short pants. She slowly stood and rested her hand over his beating chest. “Zeb,” she whispered.

“What else happened?” he growled. His chest rose and fell quickly with every breath he took. His fists clenched and un-clenched beside his thighs as he stood, staring at her.

She stepped back and swallowed the lump in her throat. “He didn’t care that he took my virginity. He thought I hadn’t fucked in a while and I was just tight. I was just another notch on his bedpost—his words, not mine. I hit him after that, Zeb. He broke my heart. He scared me after I had lashed out at him; he gripped my hand hard, and said I was lucky that I wasn’t a guy, or I’d be on my ass. He explained that it was his cock that was fascinated by me, not him. He then told me he needed to erase the images stuck in his head from what happened between us. He never wanted to remember them at all; he never wants to think of those images again.” Sobs racked her body, but there was still more she had to say.

“I told him I fucking hated him for what he did to me, that he will always be the man-whore that he is. After that, I ran from the room and collapsed in the hallway. And that’s where you and your brothers found me.”

“You were a virgin?” Zeb rasped.

Nodding was all she could manage in response. Her throat was sore from the yelling out in the yard and her sobs.

“That fucking piece of shit,” Zeb spat out. He spun around, pushed open the shower door and ripped a towel from the rack as he wrapped it around himself.

“Zeb.”

“Stay in the shower. I’ll be back in a minute,” he ordered before he slammed the door behind him, leaving her there.

She slid down to the floor of the shower as the water covered her completely. Was it a bad idea to tell him what had happened? She had no idea, all she knew was that she couldn’t keep it bottled up to herself; she’d needed to tell someone, and one of the brothers was the best to tell it to.

She needed to get it off her chest. It still sat there fresh, as if she was going through it yet again, but she wasn’t. She was safely at the cabin with Logan, Caleb and Zeb, with no Mac in sight. She shifted to the corner of the shower and allowed the water to run over her feet as she sat on the shower floor. She wasn’t moving from the floor. Even if she’d tried, she doubted that she would make it too far. Her body was exhausted; everywhere was. She didn’t have the strength to even crawl her way out, so she continued to sit, hoping that Zeb would be back sooner rather than later to check on her.

––––––––

C
aleb stripped his shirt and boots off and stepped into the cabin with Logan in tow. Throwing his wet clothes towards the hamper basket, he made his way towards the main room. As he approached, he heard the shower on and smiled to himself. Maybe he could slip in with Sage and enjoy the warmth and her company.

As he rounded the corner, he found Zeb storming towards him, with a towel wrapped around his waist. He didn’t look his way as he moved past him. Caleb shot his arm out and stopped him going any further.

“What’s wrong, Zeb?”

Ripping his arm from his grip, Zeb grated out, “I just need to cool down for a bit before I see Sage again.”

“What the fuck happened?” Logan asked as he stopped in front of him, arms crossed over his chest.